<p>So I suddenly have an interest in playing piano. Now obviously my teacher wants to buy me a real piano as I currently have some cheap 61 key keyboard. Now the problem is that I’m currently a sophomore in high school and will likely travel out of state for college. This means that I will only have the piano for at least 2 years, a waste of money in my parents’ mind. So how could I handle this if I want to continue learning to play?</p>
<p>You could find a school, community center, church, etc, that would let you come practice on their piano when they are not using it.</p>
<p>When I first began taking piano lessons decades ago, my parents made an arrangement with a store that sold pianos so I could practise there. Later, we bought a used piano from that store.</p>
<p>You can rent a piano or buy one of those full sized keyboards with piano-action (these are pricey).</p>
<p>Piano teachers always seem to think that big lunky furniture pianos are the only way to make music. Personally I think they need to join the 21st century. Find yourself a good keyboard that is 88 keys. Both Yamaha and Casio make great ones which are reasonably priced. Find one that has the “piano feel” (specified–harder to hit the keys–and usually the “touch” can be changed) if that is what you want. It’s not necessary–sort of an electric type writer vs manual. What is a great feature though is a keyboard that the volume goes up depending on key strike (hence, piano strike) Easy to transport and set up (which is why you own one).
Next, do yourself a favor and find someone who teaches KEYBOARD. World of difference in someone who understands how great and creative keyboards can be versus old school “you need pedals” teacher. A keyboard teacher can show you all the fun stuff. And electronic pianos don’t need constant tuning (and can record and be played with ear phones–huge plus!) But you already knew that.
Christmas is a great time to look!</p>
<p>Scanning the local craigslist listings, I see that you can buy a used piano including delivery for under $1000. I would advise getting an expert tuner to look at it before purchasing anything used as you don’t know where it’s been, but it’s a fine way to start.</p>
<p>Im also a sophomore in highschool, and I recently began picking up my piano skills, however,I am self taught. I have an 88 key Yamaha, and i’m looking forward tothis Christmas, when I get my grandfathers cherry red baby grand piano. Im for sure going out of state for college (im a Californian), but Im looking into putting it into storage. right now, I’ve found a couple store s that let me practice on their pianos in exchange for an unpaid internship. I would hold off on buying a grand piano for just now. The pros are awesome, but I would wait until youre more financially stable and have a solid residence</p>
<p>Are your parents unwilling to have a piano in their home for you to play on college breaks/summer. There will be lots of time to play at home, though you might need a keyboard at college. I would not let college stop you. You probably need to have a piano picked out so your parents know exactly the cost, and how it would look in the home. Enlist your teacher’s help in finding a good used one. I agree that there is nothing like the real thing - no keyboard is ever as good - BUT if it ends up that’s all you have, don’t let that fact keep you from advancing. If you can consider a used piano, note that there will be lots of bad used pianos out there - try to buy from someone who is a better musician than yourself. When you call to ask about a piano it is a red flag if the person doesn’t know what brand of piano they have. Can you imagine someone not knowing what brand of car they have? If they play, they should know. And if they say, “oh, it just needs to be tuned”. Well yeah! tuning is really the only thing that’s needed to maintain a piano, that and a relatively stable temperature and humidity level. If they aren’t tuning it, they haven’t cared for it (a bit extreme wording, but you get the idea) And some people might say it’s been on the porch, or out in the garage. Never consider anything like that!!</p>
<p>acron–I’m sure the piano is beautiful but storage costs can be high–even a cheap $50/month storage is $600/year. Just make sure you do all the math. Make sure the piano is worth the storage investment.</p>
<p>I just moved our kids’ piano 3 times in the last 3 years, and it is a pain. But if you are serious about playing piano, a good piano matters.</p>
<p>And a good keyboard is not a pain.</p>
<p>The touch of Keyboard and piano are very different. The weight is just not the same. (electronic pianos are fine.) Many places rent the piano for a very reasonable price. Try rent one.</p>
<p>We have a piano…and we are happy to own it. Both kids use it when they are here. Both took lessons on it for years. In my opinion, a piano is an investment. I’d sell my couch before I would sell my piano!</p>
<p>We have a baby grand piano, and I also have a keyboard - which I bought when we were overseas and the grand piano did not make the trip. Our neighbor in NJ was practically a concert pianist - played mostly classical - and he had a good electric keyboard that had a touch similar to a real piano. It was great when he had babies because he could use headphones and not disturb anyone. These things work well at school for the same reason.</p>
<p>Several decades ago, when I wanted my kids to have some music training, I did a lot of thinking and research and testing, and bought a Yamaha Clavinova. It’s an electronic piano with a full keyboard, and weighted keys, so it emulates a piano touch. The “action” of the keyboard is, IMO, indistinguishable from a regular piano. The space it occupies is a great deal less, although it is a piece of small furniture and one person can’t easily move it around (although two can very easily). It has a headphone jack.</p>
<p>We have a family member who is a terrific pianist and was a music major, and holds an advanced music degree from Hopkins. They prefer a regular piano, but they learned on and currently own a clavinova. </p>
<p>I would imagine that the price of a 10 year old used one is not all that bad. The only thing you need to watch out for is that if it is used infrequently over a period of years, the electronics age and need replacement. I’d keep my eyes on Craigs list or something similar for a bargain.</p>
<p>Edit: just checked craigs list and there are numerous clavinovas for sale from a low of 150 (older plain model) to 500-600 for the fancier models. If you get one and go away, have someone turn it on at least once a week for an hour or two to keep the capacitors from drying out.</p>
<p>Also, the university I attended had piano rooms for practice available to anyone. They were in the music department. It wasn’t very hard to walk in and use one.</p>
<p>I would not spend the money on owning a regular piano for 2+ years. Renting is one possibility as is using one somewhere else to practice on. We bought a piano when son was young- I had always wanted to own one. He played for about a year, then went on to viola through HS. Pianos get out of tune, take up space and are hard to transport. We donated ours to the local middle school when we were downsizing- they came to pick it up.</p>
<p>Use whatever your parents are willing to spend money on for now. You will have pianos available in college. A piano is not something you easily transport to an apartment either, so don’t plan on that in the future. Very expensive to safely move.</p>
<p>We spent a lot of money on a piano when our kids were young. It hasn’t been played in 5 years (the kids picked different instruments, although they all learned to play). Fast forward…we are putting in a new wood floor where the piano is. It needs to be moved out and we really don’t want to move it back in (a real space waster in our small home). I looked at selling it on craigslist and the prices were really low.</p>
<p>We ended up selling it for less than half of what we paid for it just to get rid of it. I think there are a lot of people out there who are in a similar situation. If you shop around, you can probably find something relatively cheap. If you can then sell it two years later for 1/2 price, you might come out ahead of a rental price.</p>
<p>Op,
Do not buy a piano if you are just starting out. It’s always difficult to gauge a new stud ent’s interest level. I just got rid of 1 of my 2 pianos and it was a total pain to move pianos. I’ve played for 40 years and still don’t recommend that you buy one.
Either rent a piano
Buy or rent a digital piano
Buy a keyboard with weighted keys
Keep playing on your 68 key Casio. What is wrong with that?</p>
<p>If you go against my above advice and absolutely need to buy a piano, then if you buy a cheap piano from Craig’s list, bring a piano tuner/technician along with you when evaluating the piano.</p>
<p>You might want to look at “The Piano Book” by Larry Fine–I don’t know if it’s been recently updated, but it’s really great about buying new and used pianos.</p>
<p>Beware of used pianos–some of them are really “PSOs”–piano-shaped objects that won’t hold a tuning. There can be some good buys, but get it checked out.</p>
<p>Another thought–you may have a neighbor or family friend who has a piano that isn’t being played. They might be happy to let you come there and play.</p>